Galen, U.B. sign cooperation memo

Galen University: not much is known about this educational institution except that it is located in the Cayo District and opened its doors with fifteen students enrolled in a school of business in September. But this week Galen scored a major achievement in its short lifespan by linking up with the University of Belize to offer academic exchanges that both institutions see as vital to their individual agendas. According to U.B.’s President, Doctor Corinth Morter Lewis, the Memorandum of Understanding, signed yesterday, will forge a working relationship that will benefit not only the students and faculty, but the entire nation.

Dr. Corinth Morter Lewis, Pres., University of Belize

“In terms of academic courses, we are not doing courses together. They offer some courses that we do, for instance in the case of business. But at the end of the day, they have areas such as the environment that is very important in their proposals and in what they are working on right now, whereas we don’t have that kind of slant in the same way that they do. So in terms of our cooperation, we can profit from what they are doing and they can profit from what we’re doing. And eventually they will look at things like veterinary in the medical field and we don’t have that here. So what I am saying is by the kind of cooperation we are setting up, it’s allowing Belize to expand in areas that at least for the near future the University of Belize will not become engaged in.”

Nancy Adamson, Vice President, Galen University

“We feel that we each offer different things and we can both benefit from such an agreement. And so working together in the areas of sharing resources, and the library and faculty development, doing research, and finding other areas that we maybe haven’t thought of yet but will over time, we think that’s very exciting and can benefit both universities. Belize is a small country and it’s important to have a strong and active academic community, and that’s part of what we are helping to create here today.”

Galen University has its campus in Central Farm and plans to expand its curriculum in January to include veterinary studies.